Completing the first phase of the MythTV setup

After finding out that the two tuner cards I already have are too large to fit in the new Camulus case of the new MythTV master backend (aka sodium), I ordered a Nova-T 500 dual-tuner PCI card. This was a little risky because Hauppauge produced a limited run of cards for the UK that are not compatible with linux. These cards are normally identified by their model number and certain stickers on the box.

When I received the card, I discovered that it bore the model number of the troublesome batch, but no extra stickers on the box or the card. I installed the card in one of the PCI slots and booted the machine. ‘ls /dev/dvb’ should have listed something, but it didn’t. At this point I got a little worried. However, I remembered that there was a link to the setup instructions on the site where I purchased the new computer.
The instructions went fine, except the wrong firmware version was listed resulting in a short time of frustration wondering why the thing wouldn’t work. Downloading the correct firmware version fixed everything, and the dual-tuners are now working away recording all the stuff we want to watch over Christmas and New Year but don’t have the time to.

So far 305GB has been recorded. There have been a few teething problems, including getting xmltv to play ball and associate itself with the channels, and occaisionally the backend will crash presumably through the stress of having so many recordings over such a busy period. The front-end is working adequately for the moment, and mythweb is currently the easiest way to schedule the recordings via the family computer. A little more time needs to be spent configuring lirc so that it can use more of the features of the MS Media Centre remote.

Next up is getting an LCD TV for the dining room and connecting it up to what will then be a second front-end (currently the family PC, but it takes up too much space so will be replaced by a laptop). When the kitchen gets refurbished, an mvpmc STB or a low-power standard frontend will be installed and connected to a smaller LCD TV.